Christie praises the teachers' union

11/16/12 4:28 PM EST

Overlooked because of the Mitt Romney commentary was this bit from Chris Christie's appearance on "Morning Joe," announcing an agreement involving merit-pay with the teachers' union, and he appeared with AFT head Randi Weingarten, via Capital New York:

"We found that boulevard of compromise that exists, between compromising your principles—which neither of us would ever do—and getting everything you want, which you're never going to get. There's always a boulevard between there, sometimes broad, sometimes narrow. The job of a leader is to find the way out to that boulevard and make progress for the people of your state."

Christie ought to be facing a tough re-election in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans, and the leading prospective challenger happens to be the current mayor of Newark, Cory Booker. (The state took control of the district in 1995.)

Booker, meanwhile, said on a local radio station earlier today that Hurricane Sandy has delayed his timeframe for making up his mind about a gubernatorial run. But there are many reasons to believe that Christie, who has been making bipartisan appeals after months of being a partisan attack dog for Romney, enters 2013 in a position of strength, and this is another one.